Forex Hedge Funds Stories
Carry trades, yen boost forex funds' October returns
Reuters, November 26, 2003
The Parker FX index, which tracks the performance of global currency funds, reported a monthly return of 0.6% in October, the latest figures available.
Returns for the first 10 months of 2003 were a robust 5.80% and in the last 12 months a hefty 9.4%, according to the Stamford, Conn.-based Parker Global Strategies, which issues a monthly index of currency returns.
About 57% of the 46 currency funds in the index reported positive performance in October.
The top performer for October on a reported basis is Quantitative Financial Strategies, a technical financial research and asset management firm in Stamford, Connecticut. Quantitative's monthly return was 9.06%.
FX Concepts, an asset management firm in New York which oversees some $2 billion in currency position investments, posted returns of 6.60%.
John W. Henry & Co. of Boca Raton, Florida -- one of the largest managed futures advisors, with assets of around $1.8 billion -- posted currency returns of over 4.3%
Hedge fund industry consultant Tremont changes name
Reuters, June 2, 2003
Tremont Advisers Inc., a unit of mutual fund firm OppenheimerFunds Inc. that helps invest $8 billion in hedge funds, on Monday said it has changed its name to Tremont Capital Management, Inc. to better describe what it does.
New York-based Tremont made a name for itself in the $600 billion hedge fund industry by helping pension funds like the Teacher Retirement System of Texas invest in these loosely regulated funds at a time people are searching for alternatives to stock and bond investments.
Recently big and small pension funds including the California Employees Retirement System and the Missouri State Employees Retirement System all made hedge fund allocations.
But because hedge funds are not required to disclose the same kind of information that mutual funds do, investing in them can be risky and powerful clients are turning to consultants for help in picking among the world's estimated 6,000 managers.
UK fund assets in '97-'02 up despite stocks -IMA
Reuters, April 14, 2003
Assets run in the UK were estimated to total 1.93 trillion pounds as of June 30 last year, a gain of 50% from March 1997, according to an Investment Management Association (IMA) survey.
Although total assets gained, the proportion of funds devoted to the stock market fell over the years 1997 to 2002.
Investors, clobbered by the worst equity bear market in a generation, are holding a higher proportion of funds in assets such as money market funds, cash and hedge funds.
Money market funds and alternative assets like hedge funds accounted for more than 20% of all investments.
Non-UK equities represented the biggest slice of all fund assets, at 34%, while British equities took up 20% of assets.
Bonds - both corporate and government issues - account for 24% of all assets, while property, venture capital and other assets made up 10% of the fund pie.
Refco plans hedge fund products to track S&P index
Reuters, April 10, 2003
Chicago-based Refco Inc., the world's largest privately held futures firm, plans to bring managed futures, a particularly volatile type of hedge fund strategy, to Main Street by designing funds that will track an index run by Standard and Poor's.
Managers also say that investors are interested in these kinds of products to capture both the good and bad returns this type of strategy can provide.
The S&P managed futures index is up 5% year to date, better than the S&P 500 index which is off about 1%.
Man Group on the roll with record $725 mln launch
Reuters, April 10, 2003
UK hedge fund manager Man Group Plc said its latest fund sold a record $725 million, boosting managed assets to over $26 billion at a time that many fund firms are struggling to hold onto assets.
Analysts said the fact the product sold a record amount, even though it promised lower returns than the previous fund, showed Man continues to make money from stock market volatility, which has hurt many other hedge funds that have been less aggressive in taking risks in calling the markets.
The next global hedge fund launch would be in April, followed by another one in June, followed by others in October and December. All would be capital-guaranteed products.
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